BISBEE, Ariz., Aug 6 (Reuters) - An Arizona judge ruled on Monday that a U.S. Border Patrol agent must stand trial for murder for shooting dead a Mexican immigrant in a case that prompted condemnation and increased tensions with Mexico.

Agent Nicholas Corbett was charged in April on four counts of homicide in connection with the Jan. 12 shooting death of Francisco Dominguez Rivera shortly after he crossed a stretch of desert border between Douglas and Naco.

Cochise County Justice of the Peace David Morales ruled on Monday the evidence supported lesser charges of second degree murder in the shooting, but tossed charges of first degree murder, which supposes premeditation.

Morales ruled following a preliminary hearing that heard evidence from three migrants present at the shooting, together with a pathologist, Cochise County Sheriff's Department detectives and two Border Patrol supervisory agents.

No date was set for Corbett's arraignment.

Following the shooting, Mexico's Foreign Ministry complained of "disproportionate violence" and instructed the Mexican Embassy in Washington to investigate the circumstances.

Last year, border police nabbed some 1.1 million undocumented immigrants crossing over the border from Mexico, and recorded a soaring number of attacks on agents.

Lawyers for Corbett argue he shot Dominguez Rivera in self defense after he was threatened with a rock.

Last year two Border Patrol agents were prosecuted in Texas for shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks.

They were later convicted and jailed by a court for more than ten years, becoming a cause celebre among some conservatives and anti-illegal immigration hard-liners.

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